The Sea Dogs once again couldn't connect on a power play and fell behind early, ultimately falling 5-2 to the Moncton Wildcats in the hockey debut of the new Avenir Centre.
Saint John went down 2-0 early in the first period - much like they have in each game this season - but, once again, rebounded with a decent second period. But the Dogs couldn't convert enough offensively, dropping what was an expectedly sloppy game by both squads.
Alexander Khovanov scored twice for Moncton while singles came from Jakob Pelletier, Jeremy McKenna and Jacob Hudson. Francis Leclerc made 22 stops in the win.
Maxim Cajkovic and Filip Prikryl scored for Saint John. Alex D'Orio made 31 stops in the loss.
Moncton opened the scoring on a power play at 2:45. McKenna had the puck and went into the slot, feeding Khovanov backdoor to give Moncton an early 1-0 advantage.
The Wildcats quickly made it 2-0 at 5:02. Jacob Hudson made a nice feed to Pelletier who had a wide open net to double Moncton's lead.
Saint John got on the board at 11:22. Cajkovic turned on the burners and sped past the Moncton defence, sliding a backhand shot past Leclerc to make it a 2-1 contest.
Khovanov scored his second power play goal of the game at 1:44 of the second. The puck came down low to the Wildcats import who had plenty of time to go upstairs on D'Orio, giving Moncton a 3-1 advantage.
Saint John got back within a goal at 11:25 as the second period turned sloppy. The puck was behind the net and then came out front to Prikryl who beat a surprised Leclerc to make it a 3-2 contest.
Moncton once again struck early in a period in the third. Adam Capannelli won a faceoff clean and the puck went to McKenna at the top of the circle. McKenna one-timed a hard shot top shelf on D'Orio to give Moncton a 4-2 lead.
The Wildcats controlled much of the early part of the third, controlling the puck in the offensive zone for much of the first seven minutes or so. Saint John was unable to generate many good chances in the final frame.
With 1:51 remaining and D'Orio on the bench, Hudson hit the empty net to give the Wildcats a 5-2 lead and secure the victory.
LINEUP
NOTES: There was a lengthy pre-game ceremony that featured some ice dancing and several singing acts. The game started at 8:17 p.m... the Sea Dogs have allowed the first goal in every game they have played this season... the Sea Dogs lost William Poirier early in the game as he was given a game misconduct for removing Brady Pataki's helmet in a fight. The fight happened after Poirier put a big open ice hit on Alexander Khovanov... Cajkovic was given a 10-minute misconduct for illegally wearing a mouthguard following his goal... this was the 800th home game in Wildcats franchise history... Filip Prikryl's goal was the first of his QMJHL career... Cajkovic's goal marked the first time this season that Saint John has scored in a first period... the sold out crowd of 8,800 was the largest home crowd in Wildcats history... Michael Campoli now has three goals in four games this year.
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Harbour Station.
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